Informal Professional Development of Higher Education Teachers in Kazakhstan

Teacher professional development is a complex process, and this involves many processes, mechanisms, actions, and elements and it is difficult to specify exact outcomes in every instance. The aim of the study is to highlight the ways teachers perceive the essence of professional development and possible perspectives of an informal learning. The study is qualitative in nature by the usage of semi-structured interviews and involve four university teachers who currently work at different types of higher education institutions (HEI) in Kazakhstan. The results of this study show that formal professional development activities are happen to be the genesis of informal learning activities, as university teachers still refer the workplace learning being the basis of their informal learning. Formal and informal types of learning seem to be complementary as formal professional development activities create a need and provide a context for the use of new knowledge, and informal activities complete the gaps of on-going experience.